A+Mountain+Journey



Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: A Mountain Journey

Point of View:

Third person. (Omniscient/Limited?)

Protag onis:t

Dave Conroy.

What type of character is the Protagonist?

He is a dynamic character and a round character.

Antagonist:

We think the antagonist in the story was nature, but also himself.

Describe the setting

The story takes place on a mountain near Jasper, Alberta, sometime between the late 1800s and the early 1900s. The mood of the story is mostly tense and anxious, but also isolated, because he all alone and all he wants to do is get home.

Type of Conflict:

The type of conflict in the story is Man VS Himself, but also Man VS Environment.

Describe the main conflict:

Although there are two conflicts, the main conflict is Man VS Himself, because although he had environmental challenges, he ended up dying because he had conflict within himself and didn’t trust his judgment, which resulted in him making poor decisions.

Describe the Climax of the Story:

The climax of the story is after he had already fell through the ice and his fingers and feet had gone numb and he attempts to ski up the mountain to the cabin near Terrace Creek. The turning point is when he lays down to rest.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story?

At the beginning of the story, the protagonist is more confident and rational, but over the course of the story as he loses feeling in his limbs and each attempt at survival fails, he becomes more desperate and irrational, doing whatever he can think of to try and survive.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme.

We think the theme of the story is survival, and trusting your instincts as well as thinking your decisions through. This relates to the title, because if you think of the title symbolically, the protagonist took “A Mountain Journey” trying to get home and then later on just to survive.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme?

The main conflict reflects the theme because the main conflict was when he fell through the ice, then started slowly dying when he couldn’t find any shelter or a way to heat himself up, and the theme is that he should have followed his instincts, because he knew he should stop but he didn’t.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme?

In the climax, all of his bad decisions had built up tension and resulted with his death, which related to the climax because he should have thought his decisions through more, and if he had he wouldn’t have been in that predicament.

Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

Simile:

“That tree, like a strong and lonely woman”.

Metaphor:

“The cold was an old man’s fingers feeling craftily through his clothes”.

Personification:

“Dark trees came out of the thinning mist towards him, touched him with outflung branches.”

Symbol:

“Mountain” like in the title, could be a symbol for a struggle, because mountains represent really big journeys and struggles along the way, and that things aren’t easy.

Foreshadowing (give both elements):

Foreshadowing in the story could be when after he fell through the ice, he knew he should stop but he decided to keep going, you know something bad was going to happen because he went against his instincts.

Irony:

It’s sort of ironic how at the beginning of the story, Dave Conroy said he was a very experienced trapper, and then eventually ended up dying because he made a rookie mistake.

Imagery:

“Glanced a moment over his shoulder at the curved beauty of the ski trail, on the hill above, curved and smooth and thin, like the tracing of a pen upon the snow.

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story.

The class theme is power, and I think this relates to the story because he was a trapper, and he kept driving himself to go farther, travel longer, in order to get home faster, because he couldn't sell his furs and make money until he got back to civilization. Throughout at least the first half of the story, power and money were driving him to get home, but after he started to lose the feeling in him limbs, his priorities changes, and it started to become more about survival than power, since in the end he ended up ditching his furs because they were too heavy. Completion 5/5 Effort 4/5 Content 5/5 total 14/15

Character Sketch In the story "A Mountain Journey", by Howard O'Hagan, Dave Conroy is the main and sole character. He has many different traits, some which are pronounced through out the story, and some which developed. His confidence is apparent at the beginning of the story and even remarks how "//...mountain travel was not dangerous if a man knew how to take care of himself//". He later contradicts this when he, an experienced trapper, lost his life to the mountain. His confidence in his ability to survive is what eventually leads to his downfall, and as the story continues, his confidence wavers quite a bit. Dave Conroy was also very resourceful. He ventured out into the woods without too many items weighing him down, and at points of the story he even relied on his natural surroundings for assistance. During his desperate attempt to survive, Dave Conroy resorted to attempting to light the forest on fire to warm himself. This failed, but only because he could not move him limbs to light the lighter. Through out the story, though, one trait was obvious and prominent. Dave Conroy was extremely determined. Everyday he would not rest until he had travelled at least ten miles (incorrect), and even though he was cold and tired, he persisted on to find shelter. This determination is what led him to continue after he had fell through the ice and continued in search of the cabin, and later on, travelling uphill to find MacMoran. Determination, knowledge, and confidence laced everything that Dave Conroy did, from the beginning of his journey to the end of his life.

5/6 Showed clear understanding of topic, used examples to support statements, and demonstrated some literary techniques. Marked hopefully unbiasedly by Nicole

Great job. I agree with your assessment. 5.5/6